Daily Log No 17 Northern Child
Tuesday 12 December 2006
PositionRodney Bay, St Lucia

Arrived! AT 0104 local time Northern Child crossed the finish line in Rodney Bay of ARC 2006, her sixth successive finish in the last six years!

The wind held good for us all afternoon and the miles ticked away. It seemed that the closer we got, the slower the miles ticked down – can’t be! A beautiful sunny afternoon gave way initially to a star lit sky, which was joined by the moon shining strongly down on our arrival later on in the evening. As we drew closer to Pigeon Island and the finish line, we expertly dropped the kite, put up the no.3 headsail and headed upwind into Rodney Bay.

Just short of the finish we were joined by Tim Wright who buzzed around us for 10 minutes in his dinghy taking photographs of our arrival. Then the line! A huge cheer and we were over! What a great feeling, a great satisfaction of having done a good crossing.

Our final run was 136 miles all of which was under spinnaker, apart from rounding up for the finish line. The total distance sailed was 2,856 miles all under sail. We finished the passage having achieved our objectives: we sailed the Atlantic without using the autopilot. We ended up friends – what more can we ask for?

On arrival in Rodney Bay marina, there were loads of yellow shirted ARC staff to welcome us bearing gifts of rum punch! One of our great friends Peewee was also there to welcome us. What a fantastic occasion – all for us, but we deserved it!

What next for Northern Child? We are going to stay in St Lucia for two days to join the parties. We will then sail on Thursday for St Martin and then the BVI’s where we are chartering for Christmas and New Year. In the New Year comes my reward: my family comes to stay on the boat for 2 months!

It leaves me now to say thank you to everyone who participated in this adventure with me. Thank you to the girls, Kat and Kathy for looking after us so well all the way across the Atlantic. To Richard and Dave C, my volunteer watch leaders, thank you for all the energy you have put into making this a success. To the rest of the crew, Ian, Brendan, Dave E, Al, Dave A, ‘Enri, Luis and Javier, thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm throughout. The trip has been a voyage under sail, but it has also been a voyage into new friendships – it’s been primarily about the people.

That leaves me still with one thank you to do: to Magali, my wife, who sticks by me through thick and thin, organises absolutely everything and has been our link to shore during the whole Atlantic passage – she has been our email contact, our log publisher, our support team. Mags, without you none of this would happen, so thanks for everything.

That’s it, finished. The last log completed. Northern Child is straining at her mooring lines, raring to go again, to fulfill other dreams. Maybe in a couple of days the crew will be ready too! To you, the readers: this log has been for you. I hope that you have enjoyed this journey across the ocean with us – join us again, come sailing or live another voyage with us through the logs. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you again. If you wish to receive any information about Northern Child and our program, please feel free to contact Magali on Magali@northernchild.com.

A bientot and lots of happy sailing to all.

Julian